1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for providing a Multicast and Broadcast Service (MBS) in a cellular network. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for creating/releasing/modifying a data path for a broadcasting service between network entities.
2. Description of the Related Art
As known in the art, conventional communication systems were originally developed to provide voice communication services. As technology has evolved, communication systems now provide data services and various multimedia services in addition to the voice communication services. However, the conventional communication systems, which were developed to provide only voice communication services, have a narrow bandwidth for data transmission and have a high subscription fee. For these reasons, they cannot satisfy diversified user demands. Furthermore, in conjunction with the rapid development in the communication industry and ever-increasing demands for Internet services, it is important to provide communication systems capable of providing Internet services efficiently. As a result of these trends, Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) systems having a bandwidth large enough to both satisfy the increasing user demands and provide efficient Internet services have been proposed.
The standardization of wireless access schemes for BWA systems is being conducted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), which is an international standardization organization. More particularly, the standardization of wireless access schemes for BWA systems is being conducted by the IEEE 802.16 standardization group. Because the BWA systems have a larger bandwidth than conventional wireless communication systems for voice communication services, they can transmit a greater amount of data for a limited period of time and share all user channels (or resources) for efficient channel utilization. In addition, since Quality of Service (QoS) features are guaranteed, users can be provided with various services of different qualities depending on the characteristics of the services.
Examples of principal services of the BWA systems are Internet services, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services, and nonreal-time streaming services. Recently, a Multicast and Broadcast Service (MBS) has emerged as a real-time broadcasting service. The MBS provides a high transmission rate using a macro diversity scheme and thus can simultaneously provide various channels such as high-definition video and high-definition audio. Herein, the macro diversity scheme is used to transmit the same data for each MBS zone through the same resources at the same time.
Recently, various standards for a broadcasting service have been provided but a specific scheme for data path creation for transmission of broadcast contents has not yet been defined. For transmission of broadcast contents, a data path must be created between a network entity in a Core Service Network (CSN) and a network entity in an Access Service Network (ASN) before the start of a broadcast. What is therefore desired is a specific scheme for creating/releasing/modifying the data path.